IN his latest letter (Wiltshire Times, February 3), Mr D Thomas says “how many times does it have to be said that the vote to get out of the EU has nothing to do with race or colour but how the human rights law has been abused”.
I sincerely hope he is wrong in believing that human rights issues led UK citizens to vote Leave or we have many misguided voters in the UK. Our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and our own Human Rights Act have absolutely nothing to do with our membership of the EU.
Our obligations under the European Convention arise because we are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and have been since 1950, over two decades before we joined the EU. The European Court of Human Rights, which is responsible for enforcement of the European Convention, sits in Strasbourg. The European Court of Justice, responsible for interpreting rights under various EU Treaties, sits in Luxembourg. They are two entirely separate courts with different judges. 
We are subject to the decisions of the ECJ because we are members of the EU. Leaving the EU will mean that we are no longer bound by European law or the decisions of the ECJ. However, this will have no effect whatsoever on our obligations under the ECHR or the Human Rights Act.
Tim Angell
Wyke Road
Trowbridge